Product: Toyo Open Country All Terrain Tire
Size: P265/70R16 (OEM tire size)
Price installed and aligned: $560.00 @ Tires Plus Wheels in Hartford, CT

As you all know, with the 1st Gen vehicles the standard tire to come with the X is the General Grabber AW. This is an all weather tire as compared to something more suitable for trails, etc. I am not going to say anything bad about this tire as I had no problems on dry pavement, rain/downpours or even heavy snow fall. However, after reading soooooo many topics on tires and comparing what other owners are running on trails with, I didn't think that the AW tread would handle anything but the mildest of trails. My needs: a more aggressive tread, good on-road manners as I have to commute everyday, able to handle a wide range of terrain (knowing that they will be OK on each terrain type as compared to being really great at one type of terrain or another), not so heavy to make it so I can't manhandle them myself, etc. Switching tires before a run is not an option for me as I live in an apartment and storage is VERY tight. So my search began...
After considering many types of treads, manufacturer's, sizes, etc., I ended up going for the Toyo. I was able to compare several tire types side by side at the local shops and found that the characteristics, reputation and appearance appealed to me most.


side view

tread view

As you can see, each tread block has quite a few sipes in them for rocks, the blocks are fairly deep for reasonable mud and the block pattern is such that they really are quiet on the road. I can not attest to their ability in the snow yet. I'll have to update that when winter comes. I have had zero issues in the rain, including both times CT has been in flood conditions this spring.


off road

I was very impressed with their ability to handle varying terrain at the Voluntown run. I only slipped while climbing a semi-rock face type obstacle. I'm pretty sure that would not have happened had I aired down. I actually did the whole run; rocks, water, mud, etc at street pressure! I did miss the first approach at some obstacles a couple of times but I believe that was due to my inexperience as to how much gas (or not) to give it.
For those of you who can go with bigger tires but want to stick to an AT tread, the Toyo's do come in larger sizes/widths.
Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it...

Barry
Xterra, the "No Fear" SUV

Again, nice write up. The price is right. I paid close to twice that for my BFG MT's.